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| McDonnell Praise For Falcons Set-Up |
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| Falcons prop Joe McDonnell |
| 4 October 2007, 3:09 pm |
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| Newcastle’s All Black prop Joe McDonnell has hailed the togetherness at the club right now, as the Falcons look to extend their home run against Guinness Premiership opponents Leeds Carnegie on Friday at Kingston Park (kick-off 8pm). |
The big Kiwi praised the increased organisation in the coaching ranks this season, stating: “The difference behind the scenes might not be too apparent to all of the supporters just yet, but from a club point of view the set-up now is really kicking in.
“There is much more organisation and planning going in to what we do every day, and getting Steve Bates in to help with the technical areas has been a huge help because as well as obviously the quality of his coaching it has allowed John Fletcher to focus more on his specific area without having to be in six places at once.
“The coaching team is working very well together with Batesy taking charge of one part, Peter Walton doing the forwards and Ian Peel doing scrums with John Fletcher able to take a more overall view.
“There is a real focus on each area of the game, and as a player that’s what you want because we’re now learning every day. There is a learning environment here with all the players and coaches which started right from day one of pre-season, and I think gradually we are seeing that translated out on to the pitch.
“We are now in a position where every single player is pulling in the same direction - they know their roles inside out and it’s good for the club that we have that sort of direction and infrastructure looking forward.”
Having outscored a dogged Harlequins side three tries to nil in their last outing, McDonnell said of last weekend’s victory: “Coming off a poor performance at London Irish we knew we could play better and we had a lot of points to prove, so to get the result against Harlequins was a big positive as we now look ahead to Leeds on Friday.”
Despite Leeds Carnegie finding themselves rooted to the bottom of the Guinness Premiership table, McDonnell is all too aware just sort of threat the Yorkshiremen pose.
“Leeds have a lot of pride and a lot of passion to be representing their region, in the same way that we do I suppose being up here in the north-east,” he said.
“They come in to the game on the back of three losses, but they are working hard to get a win and they are a team we are not underestimating.
“Leeds have nothing to lose and they will throw everything at it. Often when a team has suffered a few defeats it makes them tighter as a group, so they will turn up here for a big performance and it’s up to us to meet that challenge.”
McDonnell packs down in a front row which this week sees the introduction of David Wilson at tight head, stating: “Davey is an excellent young English prop and has done well when he’s appeared from the bench this season, but then saying that Micky Ward has also played well so we’re really spoilt for choice in the front row at the moment with another good player in Jon Golding also involved.”
Looking to the pack in general and his own personal contribution thus far, he added: “I’ve been enjoying my rugby so far this season, I think that’s probably true of all the boys, and it’s always nice to win so there’s a pretty good spirit in the camp at the moment. It’s definitely started to get colder in the last few weeks so I’m not enjoying that aspect, but apart from that it’s going well and we’re just pumped up for Friday.
“The pack has been going okay, but we are setting our sights high and there is always more we can do. We know we have some creases to iron out in the line outs and the scrums, but we are working on those. Different teams as we play over the course of the season will expose certain things that we need to tighten up on, but as players it’s up to us to deal with that and just keep trying to improve.
“It’s easier to fix things when you’re in a winning position, so there is a massive focus on keeping that momentum up and getting points next to our name every week.”
Tickets for Friday’s game are still available by calling 0871 226 60 60, or from Kingston Park for match-day cash sales. |
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